As they left the college, the line of buses drove on the road, towards the nearest city, by Zayden's instructions. The people in the bus could see the smoke in the distance. As they drove, they could see the shells of blown-up cars, dead bodies and the occasional skeletons.
It hit them that the world had changed. The world was no longer the way it used to be, and only the strongest could survive. And they hadn't even reached the city; they were still on the road that led to the city.
The bus rattled beneath Zayden as it rolled down the cracked road, the sound of its suspension mixing with the faint hum of the other buses trailing behind. The afternoon sky was bright, the sun still shining brightly, oblivious of the carnage that had happened on the planet.
He sat cross-legged on the roof, his rifle resting beside him, eyes scanning the horizon for movement.
Wind whipped at his jacket. The road stretched ahead, empty, for now. But he knew better than to trust the quiet.
A faint thud made him turn. Valeria was climbing up the ladder at the rear of the bus, her hair tossed wildly by the wind. She pulled herself onto the roof without much effort; her physique had been tempered thanks to her evolution, so climbing up the ladder of a moving bus posed no problem to her.
"Thought you could use some company," she said, smiling.
Zayden shrugged, turning back toward the road. "You should be inside. It's safer."
"Safer is boring," she replied, sitting down beside him. "Besides, I wanted to see the view."
He gave a small nod but didn't answer. Silence stretched between them, broken only by the rumble of engines and the occasional creak of the bus frame. Valeria's eyes flicked to him, studying his profile. His expression was unreadable, the same calm, focused look he always wore when they were on the move.
As if he were working towards something. She could remember how he saved her from the nulls, during the start of their journey, the sword in her ring a testament to the memory.
Even though she wanted to become stronger than he, she still had great respect for his strength.
She tried again. "You've been quiet since we left the college."
"There's not much to say," he said without looking at her.
"There's plenty to say," she countered. "Like how you managed to get us all out alive. Even in this changed world."
Zayden's lips twitched, almost a smile. "It wasn't just me. Everyone did their part."
Valeria leaned back on her hands, tilting her head toward the sun. "Still. I'm glad you were there."
He glanced at her then, just for a moment. "You would've made it without me."
She laughed softly. "You don't believe that. I don't believe that."
She knew that without his strength and his leading them, they would have died in college.
Another stretch of silence followed. Valeria's fingers fiddled with a loose thread on her sleeve, her mind racing for something, anything, that might keep him talking.
She turned to look at Zayden's side profile, even while sitting on the bus, doing nothing, he looked like a born leader, unknowingly, the sides of her lips raised slightly.
"Do you ever think about… before all this?" she asked.
Zayden's gaze hardened on the road ahead. "Not much use thinking about it now."
'I do, but knowing the future comes with a lot of responsibilities, I can't just do nothing and let the world fall, ' Zayden thought.
"I do," she said quietly. "Sometimes I think about the cafeteria, or cramming for exams, or just… walking across campus without worrying if something's going to turn me to dust."
He didn't answer, but she noticed his fist clench.
Valeria's voice softened. "I guess I just miss when things were simple."
Zayden finally looked at her, his eyes tired but steady. "Simple's gone, Valeria. All we've got now is survival."
He needed her to know that, because with the mentality she had now, surviving the apocalypse would be hard.
She held his gaze a second longer, wishing she could say more. But the words stuck in her throat. Instead, she smiled faintly.
"Then I guess I'll survive up here with you for a while."
He nodded once, turning back to the horizon. "Suit yourself."
He seemed to remember something and turned back to look at Valeria, his mouth opening slightly as if he wanted to talk.
But in a split second, his brows creased, and his head whipped back in front of him, to the road in the distance.
In the distance, a few hundred meters away from the bus, he could see silhouettes. Silhouettes of monsters. They were not one or two, they were almost fifty.
He frowned.
Seeing Zayden's gaze, Valeria turned to where he was looking, and her eyes widened.
One should know that while in college, they only fought nulls, and even when they fought mutant beasts, it was Zayden doing most of the work; she had no experience. So, of course, she would be a little bit concerned seeing the number of beasts in the distance.
She turned to look at Zayden, only to see a smile on his face. She was shocked, but the concern on her face reduced a little.
"I can see you have a plan", she said
"Yeah, I do"
Zayden bent down and knocked on the glass of the driver's seat.
"Don't stop driving", he said and turned to look at Valeria.
"Safer is boring, right? So let's go have some fun"
He stretched out his hand with a smile on his face. Valeria looked at his hand and couldn't help but smile wryly. Her words came back to bite her.
But seeing the outstretched hand of Zayden and the confident smile on his face, Valeria also smiled.
She took his hand and marvelled at how soft his hand was. One wouldn't think that this was the hand that had killed hundreds of nulls and beasts.
The two of them stood on top of the bus, the strong wind hitting them, unable to make them fall, just tousling their hair and making them look like a heroic couple.
"Let's do this"
Zayden and Valeria leapt into the air, higher than what a normal human could do, and dived towards the horde of beasts that was coming towards the buses.
They landed on the ground, a few meters in front of the horde, controlling their strength so as not to destroy the already deteriorating road.
But the landing caused dust to fly everywhere and created a small shock wave.
The beasts stopped for a few seconds, staring into the cloud of dust, hoping to see what was blocking their way forward.
The dust cleared as Zayden and Valeria appeared, their hands held as their dark and golden auras intertwined.
Zayden's smile unintentionally caused a shiver to go down the spines of the beasts. They had killed many humans this past week, and they knew how humans looked, but now, it was like they were looking at a predator and not a human.
Zayden let go of Valeria's hand and quickly equipped one of his swords. His rare swords were now destroyed, but there were still a few swords that he had created that he could use.
He couldn't help but wince at the waste of materials.
"The power crystals are mine"
Zayden shouted as he ran into the horde.
Valeria was dazed, trying to savour the quickly fading feeling of Zayden's hand in hers. A few seconds later, she was back to reality.
"What the hell is wrong with me?" she asked herself, her cheeks turning rosy. Shaking off the feeling, she equipped the grandmaster's sword and charged into the horde, the golden aura covering the sword.